Connecting to the People: A Health Care Guide's Experience

Monique Fernandez Mora

The thing I love most about my job is the outreach—Constantly going out in the community. Alexandra Vigil, my colleague, and I have gone to every basketball game, every school function, every bake sale in Mora! It’s great to talk to people and connect with them.

I think we have about 200 people enrolled in our community—most of them on Medicaid.

The biggest obstacle was the confusion around Medicaid. And how people were getting letters saying they had family planning, or that they weren’t being covered after December 31st 2013. Seems like a lot of people who were supposed to...Read more

Health Care Guides, More Like Health Care Heros!

Alexandra Vigil Mora

The thing I love most about my job is just being able to help the people in my community. It feels really good to help someone get health insurance.

The biggest obstacle I’ve encountered is trouble with the website (healthcare.gov). That was very frustrating for many people- and they were getting frustrated, but some people didn’t give up and now they have coverage.

UNM Theatre Student Knows the Importance of Healthcare

Dachary Vann University of New Mexico

 Dachary Vann, a UNM theatre student, stopped by the Health Action NM table on UNM's Main Campus to get more information on the importance of enrolling into health insurance and how he could go about doing so. He also took the time to tell us what health coverage means to him!

Young Invincible's Cristina Rivera Speaks at UNM

Cristina Rivera University of New Mexico

Cristina Rivera with Young Invincibles is a rock-star! On November 18th and 19th of 2013 she was able to partner up with HANM, ASUNM, NMPIRG, and other local organizations to provide UNM students with information and options on how to get enrolled in health insurance. She also shared a little bit about what health coverage means to her. Thanks Cristina!

NM CHIP Program Helps Child Fight Cancer

Montoya Family Anthony, NM

"In March 2010 my wife Erin was cutting my son Colton's (age 8) hair when she nicked the top of his forehead and neck. Two small red bumps appreared-something like a mosquito bite. The bump on his neck disappeared immediately but the one on his forehead stayed. As a couple of months passed my wife and I noticed that the bumb didn't go away on his forehead. In fact it had gotten bigger, so we went to our doctor and the doctor said, "Come back in a couple of months" to see if it goes away. Months passed and the bump kept getting bigger. So we went back to the doctor. The doctor said he didn...Read more

The Cancer Won't Kill Me, But All This B.S. Will

Levi Casas Mesilla Park

"My name is Levi Casas. Born and raised in Las Cruces, NM. Lived there all my life. Right now I am going through cancer. I am going through a struggle that I thought I would never have to deal with. I don’t know if I am going to receive the help I need or not." Levi currently does not have health insurance to cover his chemo therapy treatments. On top of the cancer, Levi had a heart attack 7 years ago and is diabetic.

On October 1, 2013 Levi showed up to an ISD office in southern New Mexico to get enrolled for Medicaid. Now, "I'm just waiting, " says Levi.

In regards to the...Read more

Artists Need Healthcare Too!

Mark Horst Albuquerque, NM

Family healthcare rate woes

Michael G Rio Rancho

Wife has reasonable insurance rates for her through employer which she pays before tax. Not affordable for additional family members. Father and two teens each have our own BCBS health plans we pay out of pocket, our rates increased we are having a hard time seeing the affordable part in the new changes.
Teen 1 was: 166.30 now is 193.42
Teen 2 was: 159.71 now is 192.93
Father was: 253.48 now is 295.58
ttl 579.49 681.93
total increase in rates with no changes to plan coverage: 102.44
If we use the online tools for assistance with my Wife...Read more

Remember: This is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

Paige Duhamel Albuquerque, NM

My name is Paige Duhamel and I live in Albuquerque, NM. I am the staff attorney for the Southwest Women’s Law Center. The experience of navigating the online health insurance exchange was bumpy at first. I think I tried to log on the first few days, just to test the system to see if it was working, I didn’t get very far. I kept getting logged off.  But as the news sort of progressed that the website was getting better, I tried again and it also helped to delete my previous application and start a new one. So I started a new one from scratch, and was able to get through the system. I did...Read more

It's the Package of My Dreams

Francesa Tharpe Albuquerque, NM

I applied through the Marketplace. My cousin is an independent insurance agent and so I asked her what the best thing to do is. And she said go through the Marketplace even if I’m Medicaid eligible. So, I went to the marketplace and it was pretty simple. There’s a step-by-step process.

Basically they assessed whether or not I was eligible for Medicaid and I wasn’t. I was slightly above the poverty line. So I found a plan on the Marketplace and I went with Blue Cross Blue Shield. I also got a subsidy that was basically $90 off my monthly bill.

I didn’t have any insurance...Read more